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‘Mindful Eating’ Lowers Weight, Blood Sugar in Diabetes

‘Mindful Eating’ Lowers Weight, Blood
Sugar in Diabetes Eating mindfully, or consuming food in
response to physical cues of hunger and fullness, is just as effective as
adhering to nutrition-based guidelines in reducing weight and blood sugar
levels in adults with type 2 diabetes, suggests a new study published in the
November issue of the Journal of the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics.

In a comparison study of the effectiveness
of the two types of behavioral interventions, participants lost about the same
amount of weight—an average of between 31⁄2 and 6 lbs—and lowered their
long-term blood sugar levels significantly after three months.

One treatment group followed an
established diabetes self-management education program, with a strong empha­sis
on nutrition information. The other group was trained in mindful meditation and
a mindful approach to food selec­tion and eating. Both interventions, involving
weekly group meetings, also recommended physical activity.

“The more traditional education program
includes general information about diabetes but with more emphasis on nutrition
and food choice: What are differ­ent types of carbohydrates and fats, and how
many am I supposed to have? What should I look for when I read a food label?
What are healthful options when dining out? That was the traditional diabetes
education program,” explains Carla Miller, PhD, an associate professor of human
nutrition at Ohio State University and lead study author. “We compared it to an
intervention where mind­ful meditation was applied specifically to eating and
food choices. This intervention group didn’t receive specific nutrition goals.
We said ‘we want you to really tune into your body before you eat. Take a few
minutes to assess how hungry you are and make conscious choices about how much
you’re eating. Stop eating when you’re full.’

“We studied two very different approaches,
and we found they both worked,” Miller says.

Participants were between the ages of 35
and 65 and had been diagnosed with type 2 diabetes for at least one year. To be
eligible, participants had to have a BMI of 27 or higher, indicating they were
overweight, and a hemo­globin A1c (HbA1c) reading of at least 7%.

Study participants were randomly assigned
to a treat­ment group. Twenty-seven completed the mindful eating program, and
25 completed the traditional diabetes self-management program called Smart
Choices. Each inter­vention involved eight weekly and two biweekly 21⁄2-hour
sessions with trained facilitators.

The interventions took place over three
months. Researchers assessed participants’ health measures and dietary habits
immediately after the programs concluded and then again three months later at
the study’s end.

Weight loss and improvements in HbA1c levels
were similar for both groups at the six-month follow-up point. Smart Choice
participants as a group lost more weight, an average of 6 lbs, than did the
mindful eating group, which lost an average of 3.5 lbs, but the difference
wasn’t significant when analyzed statistically, Miller says.

HbA1c levels dropped in both groups as
well between about 0.7% and 0.8%. “That was a clinically meaningful reduction
in Hba1c, equivalent to what you’d get on some diabetes medications,” Miller
says. “If the reduction were sustained over time, it would mean a dramatic
reduction in complications associated with diabetes.”

Both groups also similarly reduced calorie
intake and low­ered their consumption of foods with a high glycemic index.

Miller says that because nutrition
education is important to people with a new diabetes diagnosis, she sees the
mind­ful meditation and eating option as a potential supplement to basic
diabetes education. She also said that participants adapted well to the concept
of mindfulness even though it’s generally considered an alternative health
practice.

“One of the things we were
evaluating was how well this was accepted by people who had no experience with
it. It was very well accepted by participants in that group, and this tells us
that people with diabetes have choices,” Miller says. “The fact that both
interventions were equally effective suggests we should let people choose. If
mindful meditation is appealing and people think that approach is effective,
then it very well could be the best choice for them.”